Hi everyone! I wanted to share my slides from the Middle School session I lead on Standards-Based Grading with 150 students in attendance from Gr . 6-7-8. You will see the laughing rubric from Susan Brookhart (cited) and I got permission to share the video clips of the laughters of 6 volunteers so feel free … Continue reading Standards-Based Grading Session for Middle Schoolers

Failing... I just saw a Grade 4 student cry today. He would not say why and wiped his tears quickly. I asked a friend of his who told me that he had come last in the run and that's why he was upset. I felt empathetic. I imagined how it feels when you don't get … Continue reading Books on failing forward for primary students

What is the difference between Inter / Trans / Multi / -disciplinary? In their article "Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 1. Definitions, objectives, and evidence of effectiveness ", Choi and Pak (2006) share analogies for the different terms and I found this so easy to understand and remember: Interdisciplinary is a … Continue reading Inter-Trans-Multi-Disciplinary…

Have you taken into consideration Bloom’s taxonomy when designing a lesson plan? I am aware of the Bloom taxonomy, however I used the Marzano & Kendall taxonomy more, i particular the useful verbs of his their taxonomy that helps specify what kind of function or process our students are engaged in. It works well in an International Baccalaureate environment … Continue reading LOTS & HOTS to work with Gifted and Talented

I would like to share some of the ideas that are popping in my mind about my French PYP classes: Exploring the phonology of the language by...: keeping a journal of awarenesses (in mother tongue and/or English) creating a concert of vowels (and perhaps make a song with my lovely looping machine) making a skit … Continue reading PYP French – some teaching ideas

Grounding activities are warming up your participants and assuming they are ready to learn, come with a positive mindset and want to grow. I prefer this term to "ice-breaker" that assumes people need to break this ice, that the atmosphere is ice cold and perhaps the minds are close and rigid... Here are some very … Continue reading Grounding activities